Commentary: Pakistan not embodying pledge of 'moderate Muslim country'

Oshkosh Northwestern - Sep 15 2008
by Saad Ahmad

Time and again, the world has questioned Pakistan's commitment in the war against extremism and terrorism, and every time we hear from Pakistan that "We are a moderate country."

It is time we all embraced reality: Pakistan, its rulers, and majority of her population, unfortunately, has no commitment to end extremism. Being of Pakistani origin, it breaks my heart but the first step in dealing with a problem is to acknowledge that it exists.

The most recent episode involves a doctor who went from the United States to serve in a hospital in a small town in Pakistan. His sole aspiration was to serve the poor and needy. A few days ago, on Sept. 8, Dr. Abdul Mannan Siddiqui was murdered while he was working in the hospital. His crime? That he belonged to the Ahmadi sect of Islam.

That incident by itself, even though tragic, is not an indictment for Pakistan. But what preceded it is.

On Sept. 7, Pakistan's most popular TV channel Geo (www.geo.tv), which is carried in the U.S. by Dish Network, broadcast a program that suggested that "Ahmadies must be killed and that it was incumbent upon the Muslims to do so." The original program's video can be seen at http://vidpk.com/view_video.php?vid=16080 (the video is in Urdu). One could suggest that it was a live program that got out of hand, but we see that Geo's Web site offers no apology. Instead this hate monger, Dr. Amir Liaqat, is featured on the front page of their Web site.

Now let us move to the people of Pakistan. After this incident no one in Pakistan seems to be outraged. The news is not even considered worthy of front-page coverage in most newspapers. The day after the incident, police arrested some Mullahs for questioning, and the whole city went on strike to protest these arrests. Just imagine the state of mind of the people who were OK with a good samaritan being murdered in cold blood but were upset when the culprits were picked up for questioning (http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/11/nat29.htm).

And what about the "liberal civilian government" that we have now? Their official website (http://www.ppp.org.pk/) does not even mention the incident, and the newly inaugurated president has not even offered condolences to the family. In fact the top three political parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Muslim League-Q, all have taken a vow of silence on this issue. Only one political party, MQM, had the decency to criticize the incident (http://www.thepersecution.org/news/08/dtp0909.html).

So let us try to absorb what just transpired in Pakistan: The most popular TV channel carries a program telling people that it is their religious duty to kill Ahmadies. The next day, two Ahmadies are murdered. The following day, the city goes on strike because police picked up some people for questioning. And still today the government of Pakistan has no comments on the issue. A hate monger is continuing with his daily programs on Pakistan airwaves.

If, after all this, someone says "Pakistan is home to moderates," how are we supposed to react?

Saad Ahmad has lived in Oshkosh since 1990. He's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, works in Oshkosh at Oracular, Inc. and is a consultant in the software industry. He is also part of the executive committee of the local chapter of Ahmadiyya Movement In Islam (www.alislam.org).

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/OSH06/809150310/1190